


A Little Chat: Two Years Later

by Polerfan1986



Series: A little chat Series [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mild Language, New Lives for Rumple and Belle, Two Years Later, rumbelle baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 09:42:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7097335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polerfan1986/pseuds/Polerfan1986
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set Two years after Belle and Rumple left Storybrooke for California.  A glimpse of their new lives on the west coast and an encounter with someone from Storybrooke.  Belle has had their baby who is now 1 year and 3 months old, Rumple is a professor and Belle has returned to college to study now that she has more opportunities.  Rumple has an encounter with an old frenemy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Chat: Two Years Later

It was a beautiful sunny day and he was sitting in the café directly across the street from campus after finishing his lunch with Rose, she was sitting on his knee playing with her favourite toy, a plush green cartoonish looking crocodile which she adored, Rumple had named the toy tick-tock croc and found that it distracted Rose quite nicely from tugging on his hair which she was obsessed with.

He reflected on the transformation his life had undergone since he and a pregnant Belle had left Storybrooke behind them two years ago. He was now teaching Astrophysics in the university and gaining quite a reputation on campus as an absolute genius among his colleagues and a complete bastard among his students.  He kept strict office hours, was a harsh marker on exams and assignments, never gave extra credit and the assignments he had set so far had sent several students screaming for the hills which he claimed was down to them not paying attention in class and therefore leaving themselves without a clue as to what they were supposed to be doing and if god forbid they happened to miss one of his lectures he did not repeat material.  "If you want to pass this course" he'd told them at the start of the year "then I expect to see you present in every class in body and spirit, if your not here you will miss out and I won't be playing catch-up for anyone".

He was also no longer constantly clad from head to toe in Armani or Dolce and Gabbana suits although he still had them in his wardrobe for occasions.  He now wore more casual ensembles of jeans and shirts or t-shirts over long-sleeved tops with the odd open waistcoat, he'd had his hair coloured to his natural light brown just enough to hide some greys, Belle liked it she thought it suited him and took a few years off him and he was also sporting a beard most days now.  He rarely dabbled in magic nowadays even though he had a stock pile of artefacts and ingredients sitting in a storage unit which was magically protected of course and that he was paying for down town, because neither he nor Belle wanted any of those things in the house near Rose, mercifully he had so far had no reason to use many of them either.

Belle had given birth to their beautiful, healthy baby girl and now that there were more opportunities open for her education-wise, Belle had returned to study to become something more than a mere librarian.  She was studying for a degree in Archaeology and Ancient Civilisations and was hoping to find work through it as a consultant and researcher. She too had taken to dressing more casually and practically.  Her skyscraper high heels and short skirts and anything else that had been part of her librarian on acid style of dressing in Storybrooke where in the back of their closet beside his suits.  Belle now wore shoes which were not as insanely high or sometimes even flats with jeans and casual but stylish tops, shorts or light summer dresses, she had also dyed her hair bright blonde a few weeks after having the baby and had touched up her roots once every two months since.

Belle attended the same University that Rumple taught at and they used the university crèche facilities there for Rose and took turns bringing her to lunch with them every day.  They both had a new lease of life since leaving Storybrooke behind, that town held no good memories for either of them except their wedding.  Living there had been endlessly stressful and resulted in them being either constantly at each other’s throats or separated, if it wasn’t one thing it was another until they decided one day that enough was enough and upped sticks without so much as word to anyone else in town.

They had even in the spirit of totally committing to their new lives as Dr Nicholas Rush and Mrs Claire Rush renewed their wedding vows a few weeks ago with Rose in her mother’s arms and two university colleagues acting as witnesses.  All in all things had gone exceedingly well for them since they had moved and neither of them had ever looked back. He was enjoying his lunch break until he suddenly felt a prickling sensation, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end and he knew someone was watching him.

He tightened his hold on Rose and stood with her in his arms approaching the counter to pay his lunch bill and leave. “C’mon Rosie time to go little darlin” he said to his daughter who gurgled at him, and then he heard a familiar voice call out his old name “Gold” he ignored it.  “Gold”, he heard it again as he turned from the counter to head to the door and the next thing he knew Emma Swan was standing between him and the door.

“Gold, is this where you’ve been all this time?” she asked him.  “Excuse me, I’m sorry madam” he said feigning polite ignorance “but I don’t know what you’re talking about, you have me confused with someone else.”

“Oh come off it Gold, I know it’s you” she replied arrogantly, so sure of herself, _some things never change_ he thought to himself she was even still dressed the same as she had been when he’d last seen her a few days before he and Belle had left town, honestly even after the curse had been broken things still never seemed to change much in that town.

He, wanting nothing to do with Storybrooke ever again remained firm in his stance and said “I’m sure you mean well madam but I don’t know who you are, you’ve definitely got me confused with someone else altogether.  Now if you don’t mind I need to get back to work, I have a child to bring back to crèche and a class to teach.”

As he said this Emma was taking in his appearance, shaggy darker hair, beard, dark jeans and green t-shirt and waistcoat on over a white long-sleeved top, scruffy casual she would class it as and a baby girl in his arms. He certainly wasn’t dressed or groomed anything like the Mr Gold she had known him as in Storybrooke.  He’d said he had a class to teach so he was working in a civil service job not swanning around like he owned the place either, that was definitely different.  Although to be fair up until the Mr Hyde incident he had actually owned Storybrooke.

It seemed like Mr Gold and Belle had genuinely wanted a fresh start and by the look of things they’d got it and who could blame them, they’d never had any sort of peaceful existence in Storybrooke. _Alright_ she thought to herself _he seems like he’s really changed but before I let him go I need to know that Belle is ok as well._

“Your little girl is adorable, she’s such a little beauty” Emma said in an effort to engage him in conversation again.  He paused at this remark looking at her curiously as though reading her intentions and then deciding something and finally replied “yes, yes she is a little beauty, and such a happy, cheerful little one as well, takes that after her mother who incidentally will be waiting at the crèche right now to check on her before she goes for her own lunch, so if you don’t mind I’d best be on my way, I don’t want my wife to worry.”

Emma whooped for joy internally when she heard this, Belle was alright, she was alive and safe living a happy life here with her husband and her child.  She kept a calm front on though so as not to give anything away.  “Oh well I’m very sorry for the mix-up, you really do remind me of someone I used to know, but the more you speak the more I realize you aren’t as much like him as I initially thought you were” she told him “it was nice meeting you and your little one but I’ll let you two head on now, wouldn’t want her mama worrying”.

“No, indeed not” he told her with a sly smile but it was nice meeting you too Miss…“

 “Swan” she told him with a small smile of her own and a nod of her head “Emma Swan”

 “What a lovely name” he replied “well as I said it was nice meeting you Miss Swan after the initial mix-up of course, good day to you now” he told her as she opened the door of the café for him and Rose and he made his exit nodding his head briefly to her as he left.

Emma finished her coffee and then headed for the airport to check in for her flight.  When she had finally landed in New York she took her phone out of her pocket and dialled a number, when a gruff-sounding man’s voice answered she spoke, “Moe, its Emma, listen I found them, she’s safe and she’s happy and you have a granddaughter by the way.  No I can’t tell you were they are it wouldn’t be fair, they left Storybrooke to start a new life and they deserve to have that new life, if Belle ever wants you to know where she is, she’ll contact you herself and tell you, it isn’t my place.  No, no he’s so different now Moe, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself but he really has changed for the better and I think it’s being away from Storybrooke that did it.”

Belle hadn’t told her father that she was leaving, in fact she hadn’t seen or spoken to him since she had found out that he had forced Rumplestiltskin’s hand with the Olympian crystal and Mr Hyde by refusing to wake her from the sleeping curse.

Moe had eventually asked Emma to try and track Belle down and see if she was safe, Emma had agreed on the condition that if Belle was safe and happy when she found her Moe wouldn’t attempt to interfere with his daughter’s life, he would leave her be.  On the other end of the phone Moe wiped a few tears from his eyes before speaking again, the receiver shaking in his hand.  “Thank you, Emma” he told her “as long as I know that she’s safe and happy wherever she is then I’m happy too” and then he hung up.

Back in California Dr and Mrs Rush were now at home, sitting outside in the sun in their back garden, Belle had been stretched out on a sun lounger under their parasol reading of course, with Rose and tick-tock croc in her lap but she was now on a blanket stretched over the grass with Rose beside her playing with some of her soft toys while Rumplestiltskin had been grading assignments with his feet up on his own lounger, occasionally sipping from his glass of whiskey and ice while watching his wife and daughter and feeling quite content indeed with what his life had become.

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to point out here that Storybrooke is or was literally a cursed town, it was created by a curse and it was created with the purpose that no one would find their happy endings except Regina and even though the curse has since been broken I am of the opinion at this stage that none of the characters will ever get their happy endings if they stay in Storybrooke.


End file.
